Cinco: Ugly Christmas Sweater Party
by corneroffandom
Summary: Zack tries to keep the end of year party lowkey since 2017 has been rough for a lot of them. It... sort of works.


Dolph looks unimpressed. "A Christmas sweater party? Seriously, kid?" He's been angry lately, not happy with himself, the company, his title victory, nothing. Zack's still not sure why he forfeited the US title like he did, unable to get a proper answer every time he asks, but... he can only do so much when his husband refuses to talk to him, so he chooses to focus on something else.

With the WWE guys working on Christmas Day, and New Years Day, the best he could do is have a party on the Saturday after Christmas. Thankfully it works for everyone else, and he stands by his front door and chuckles as Zema and Robbie arrive first, raising his eyebrows at their sweaters. "Is that supposed to be Wildey, bro?" he asks, pointing at Zema's sweater depicting a huge cat in a Santa's hat shooting laser beams from its eyes on houses and fleeing people below.

Zema smirks. "Damn straight, bro. Robbie bought it for me."

"I don't even want to know," Zack informs them, looking at Robbie's llama sweater with barely concealed disgust.

"Yeah, sure, bro, you're just jealous my sweater's better than yours. What the hell is that supposed to be, anyway?"

"Dinosaurs, bro, duh," Zack says, glaring at Robbie, who smirks back until Zema rests a hand low on Robbie's back and urges him inside, muttering something about pissing off their host before they're even fully in the door. He chuckles once they're gone, shaking his head. The party's gonna be lowkey, it's why he went with a cliche ugly sweater party- between Spud's amnesia, and Zema's recent neck issues, not to mention all of the drama with Dolph, he wants something simple. As calm as it can be with this group.

He's jostled out of his thoughts by a soft knock by his head, blinking and looking over to find Ricardo and Del Rio standing there, Del Rio impatient and Ricardo with a faint look of worry on his face. "Hey, mi amigo, everything ok? You were really zoned out."

"We've been standing here for almost five minutes," Alberto snipes, and Zack hastily opens the door.

"Sorry, I've just... had a lot on my mind," he says, eyeing their sweaters. Ricardo's says in big block letters "Feliz Navidad Putos" and Alberto's has a Grinch face glowering up from the various trees and snowflakes stitched into the fabric. He laughs at them a bit before ushering them inside, Alberto heading straight for the food while Ricardo lingers.

"Everything ok, Zack?"

Zack shrugs. Glances over at where Dolph is ignoring everyone, reading. "Just some end of year weirdness, bro. It's ok, it'll pass. It always does." He forces a smile and nudges Ricardo. "Everything good for you?"

"Alright," he shrugs. Recent insomnia and a concussion still playing havoc with his system, he looks tired and worn out, and Zack grows even gladder he made this party as simple as he could. "I can keep you company over here if you want."

"Nah, bro, I'm good. Go be with your grinch. There's only Wade and Heath, Ethan and Spud left to come. I'll be good." Not to mention the sun is shining just perfectly through the door, warming him up from how chilled he's been since his last, stilted attempt at a conversation with Dolph. He rests his head against the doorframe and watches the street, thinking about his neighbors. How much drama might be happening at their various houses, or if they're all calm and happy inside. Aches, just a little, for when things were simple like that for him and Dolph. When they first got married, before Lana, before Dolph changed.

He's blinking hard when Heath and Wade arrived, Heath grinning cheerfully as Wade drops some fancy looking wine on the table with the snacks. Heath's sweater depicts Santa riding a unicorn, and Wade's has "Lets Get Lit" scrawled over it, with a bunch of huge Christmas lights scattered over it. Heath laughs and claps Zack on the back before nodding over at Wade, who obligingly digs his fingers into his sleeve, a few of the bulbs starting to flash with real light. Zack gapes at it and shakes his head, suddenly feeling subpar in his dinosaur sweater. "Come on, bros, there's food, and Zema, Robbie, Ricardo and Alberto're already here. I'm just waiting for Spud and Ethan."

Heath nods and tangles his fingers in with Wade's and pulls him over to the others. Zack watches them go wistfully- between Heath's wrestling school and Wade's ventures in movies and outside of WWE, they both seem happy, content with each other. He exhales, casting another glance at Dolph.

He could've picked an argument for Dolph not playing along with the Christmas sweater gimmick, but things are so miserable, he'd opted to let it go, allowing the man to lurk on the fringes of the party in a plain black shirt. He doubts he's even attempted to acknowledge their guests, much less anything else. Decorating the house, preparing snacks, shopping for the party, everything had fallen on Zack's shoulders. Which didn't seem fair, he thinks. His big career moment for the month was the official fracturing of his partnership with Mojo, while Dolph won yet another title, and yet he's the one putting on a happy face while Dolph sits and sulks. He digs a knuckle between his eyes, feeling the starts of a headache, when there's another knock at the door.

His eyes soften as he sees Spud and Ethan hovering there, Spud looking uncertain. Apparently since their Halloween party, his memories had slowly seeped back and he knows himself again, knows what year it is. Had officially moved from Nashville to Florida after working out some visa issues, and now he's here. Rumors abounding he might be signing with WWE, which makes Zack happy at the prospect of having another friend nearby. "Hey, guys, come on in!" Spud's sweater is huge, engulfs him, and Zack laughs as he gets tangled up in the fabric while hugging him. It has the cookie monster on it, and reads "No Cookies for Santa!" and Zack's amusement only grows as he beams down at his friend. "So how are you doing, bro? I heard your memories are coming back?"

"Yes," Spud says slowly, rocking back and forth on his feet. "I at least don't think it's 2002 any longer."

"Well, that's good!" Zack wants to hug him again, remembering how scared he'd been on Halloween, so uncomfortable and confused surrounded by them all, but he refrains. Turns his attention to Ethan's sweater, a drunk Santa passed out in the snow, and coughs out another laugh. "Hey, bro. Nice sweater."

"Hey, Zack. I know," he intones, smirking when Zack rolls his eyes.

"Food's on that table. Wade brought some wine. Try not to drink _all_ of it, bro," Zack warns, his eyes flicking towards Ethan as Spud smirks wearily, reaching out for Ethan's hand. Ethan eagerly takes hold, actually bypassing the wine just to follow Spud over to the others, and Zack sighs. Misses when he could do something so easily with Dolph and it not turn into some weird, tense filled exchange. He shuts the door tight, puts on the lower lock since all of the guests are now here, and turns to survey the room. His grin is bright until he realizes that Dolph's disappeared from his spot in the corner, his book not even there any longer.

His face falls and he blinks hard, licking his lips and turning to look at their guests. Laughing and catching up after so many months, acting like they hadn't been apart an hour. Zack exhales hard and forces his lips up into some facsimile of a smile before wandering over to the table, scraping at the edge of a cheeseball and piling crackers and chocolate dipped pretzels onto his plate. Not that he's really hungry, but just to have something to do while his guests enjoy themselves. Some meager distraction from the choked up feeling that he can't quite shake, tears blurring his vision. It'd been a sucky year, between his knee injury, all of the losses, Mojo's betrayal, and now all of this with Dolph. He won't miss 2017, although he's not sure 2018 will be much better.

He's still standing there, focused stubbornly on this cheeseball that's just not crumbling right, when a hand rests on his shoulder. He figures it's Ricardo, maybe Heath, trying to check on him, and forces out a thick, "I'm alright," though it's obvious he's not. He's just blindly reached out for the pigs in a blanket, almost knocking over Wade's wine in the process, when warm fingers curl around his hand, stop his forward motion.

"Kid," a soft voice breathes against his ear and he shudders, closing his eyes for a moment before his plate is eased out of his hand and placed onto the table. Feels himself being turned slowly and, when he opens his eyes, stares blurrily into Dolph's face, pinched with some concern. "I'm sorry. Alright? I've been obnoxious lately, more so than usual. I should keep my displeasure at work, and not drag it home with me." He casts a quick glance around at the house, trinkling with lights, tree gleaming from the corner, their friends scattered around the room, talking and having a good time. He leans up and lightly kisses Zack. "You deserve better," he murmurs, brushing his fingers under Zack's reddened eyes.

Zack isn't sure what to say to that, or how to respond to the emotions welling up within him. "You're wearing your sweater," he finally decides to focus on, lightly touching the Game of Thrones inspired "Let it Snow" monstrosity with Jon Snow's face on it.

Dolph's teeth flash as he nods, grinning for a brief moment, before cupping Zack's face. "Merry Christmas, kid."

"Merry Christmas, bro," he says, that choked up feeling finally subsiding as Dolph kisses his eyes, then his cheeks, before claiming his lips again. They linger for a few moments before pulling away, Dolph handing Zack his plate back before pouring them both some wine to take the edge off, hand warm on Zack's back as they walk over to join the others.


End file.
